Camera modules have been incorporated into a variety of consumer electronics devices, including smart phones, mobile audio players, personal digital assistants, and both portable and desktop computers. A typical camera module includes, for example, an image sensor and an associated lens assembly. The lens assembly is used to collect and transmit light from an imaged scene to the image sensor. The image sensor then detects the transmitted light and conveys the information in the form of signals to the device within which the camera module is implemented for further image processing.
In some cases, a single camera module is implemented within the consumer electronic device. In other cases, a consumer electronic device may have two camera modules to provide enhanced imaging capabilities. In the case of two camera modules, the camera modules are single modules, which are manufactured separately with different optical characteristics. In particular, each camera module includes a lens assembly, which is optically aligned separately and independently from the other during manufacturing. The two separate camera modules are then mechanically and optically aligned with one another during a final assembly step. There are, however, many challenges with mechanical and optical alignment of components manufactured separately. In addition, because the modules are separately manufactured, they must be interconnected through separate, individual flex circuits, and powered up individually. Further, the use of individual camera modules increases the overall size of the optical system making it difficult to implement within current low profile devices. This is particularly true where one of the camera modules has a lens with a variable focal length (e.g. a zoom lens), because such lenses have an increased z-height as compared to fixed focal length lenses, and further require additional power to power the lens movement.